—who attended every Friday prayer with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him—declared anyone who alleged that the Prophet ever preached while seated to be a liar.

5. Standing for the sermon is a highly-emphasized sunnah according to the majority of scholars, among them the Hanafis and Hanbalis. Mālik considered it obligatory, while al-Shāfiʿī held that it is a condition for the sermon’s validity, basing this on the verse, the Prophet’s continuous practice, and the related reports. Sabil al-Salām states: “As for treating it as obligatory or as a prerequisite for validity, the wording itself does not indicate that—unless it is coupled with the proof that we are required to follow him, peace and blessings be upon him.”

6. Ibn al-Qayyim said: “After the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, began using the pulpit, no authentic report states that he ascended it carrying a sword or a bow. Many ignorant people imagine that he held a sword on the pulpit to suggest that the religion was established by the sword—an ugly error for two reasons. First, the sound narrations mention only that he leaned on a staff or on a bow. Second, the religion was established by revelation; the sword was directed only against the obstinate and the idolaters. No one was ever coerced into the faith, and there is no goodness in the Islam of someone forced into it.”